Here are some photos and video of Dan and I trekking to Abbot Pass in September 2013.
Comments coming soon.

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Both Dan and I had interest in exploring the Abbot Pass area as a potential future visit to climb
Mt Victoria. Knowing the weather was going to be 'questionable', we tried to prepare all that we could.

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Dan and I took the bus into Lake O'hara and then started hiking into the Lake Oesa area. Here's a shot
of Dan with Lake O'hara behind you.

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The first part of the trail to Lake Oesa brings you up above Lake O'hara. Here's Dan looking over at the
Opabin plateau.

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You can see how much snow had drifted into the alpine trail up to the hut.

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I snapped this shot since I remember looking at this coulour the last time I was up at Lake Oesa. This
would definitely ski!

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The trail to the hut goes up and around a high cliff band and then gains this plateau where you can
see the slopes below Mt Lefroy. Then, the scree field up to the hut starts up to Dan's left.

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I would definitely call this 'aggressive hiking', or 'light scrambling' for sure.

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As much as the snow on this slope made it challenging, I think I preferred having a snow surface rather than
a scree surface to hike on.

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Looking back down to Lake Oesa, you can see that this is not quite climbing, but pretty darn close.

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With the snow down on the slope, it made it challenging to follow the trail. We'd get an occasional blue and yellow
Swedish flag symbol (the alpine route symbol) or sometimes a cairn. My favourite was when we'd actually see a
painted arrow (like this one) painted on the side of the rocks.

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One of the cool things about this hut route is that you really only see the hut in the last 2 minutes of the hike.
It took Dan and I about 4 hours with a lunch break to make it to the hut. It was howling wind and much colder than
I expected for this time of year.

Video of the final approach to Abbot Pass Hut

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Here's Dan walking the last few paces to the hut. There was no one there when we arrived and we actually thought
we might be the only ones here on this day. We were wrong as there were 9 others that joined us through the
course of the afternoon.

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I was pretty stoked to get out of the wind and take my boots off. In fairness, I must say that I've been REALLY
happy with these La Sportiva boots, especially with a new insole.

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After having a bowl of soup and some tea, we felt human again. We hung around the hut, played some cards, and visited
with the others. The hut was actually totally out of wood for the stove, which we sort of knew. However, we thought that
there would be enough heat with the propane heat, which turned out to be only propane lamps and cooking. Thankfully, the
other 9 people brought up a log or two each and that DRASTICALLY changed the temperature of the hut! Before that, we were
in our down coats inside and trying not to touch the floor with socked feet. For future endeavours, plan to bring goggles,
hut booties, and thicker mitts.

Video of a look around Abbot Pass Hut

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While we were worried about what weather we'd wake up to (the night involved the strongest and coldest winds
I've ever experienced), the view down to Lake Oesa in the morning was pretty calming. That is, until you
went outside again. I would say that it was likely ~-25 deg C with the wind chill overnight.

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Here's Dan making his way down from the hut. Some day, I'd like to come back with better weather and make
some attempts on Lefroy and Victoria.

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The rocks were a bit of a blessing as they blocked the wind in some small sections.

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The drifted snow was literally to my armpits in places. Pretty fun with more coverage and good skis!

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I was pretty happy to have my axe although crampons would have been excessive.

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Notice the extra snow that came down since we were here the day before.

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A nice look at Lake O'hara on the way out. We stopped at the lodge to have a look at some historical photos
and then made our way out on the bus.

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A nice pond just north of Lake O'hara, near Le Relais shelter. Thanks Dan for a great trip!